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Built To Last

What Would The Third Little Pig Build?

Heavenly Father, open our ears to hear your words and soften our hearts to do your will. AMEN. Most of you probably remember the fairy tale about three little pigs that left from home. As they left mama pig, she gave the warning to be beware of the wolf. Each little pig precedes to build a different house. The first little pig builds a house out of straw. The second little pig builds a house out of sticks. Andthe third little pig builds a house out of bricks.Just as mama pig warned the big bad wolf comes along. The wolf huffs, puffs and blows down the house of straw built by the first little pig. Then he huffs, puffs and blows down the house of sticks built by the second little pig. But the house of brick built by the third little pig withstands all the huffing, puffing and blowing of the big bad wolf.In our Gospel lesson, Jesus promises to give us eternal life and says we will not perish. We will live forever.

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Presbyterians Operate Hundreds of Rural Schools

This morning I would like to talk you about the school buildingsin the Congo. They won’t last forever but they should last longer. Unfortunately, all school building are not like the oneshown here.

As a point of reference, the churches in the Congo operates the majority of schools. In the 1890’s, the missionaries started many schools and hospitals when they settled in the Congo. Today, most schools in the Congo are still operated by the Catholics, Methodists, Disciples, Baptists, and Presbyterians. The Presbyterian church operates over 200 schools in mostly rural Congo. These churches acts like large school district.

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Education is An Effective Way to Fight Poverty

The schools are needed more in a poor country like the Congo. It is well documented in report after report that education is an effective way to fight poverty. The poor value education. They see it as their ticket to a better life. Theirchildren take advantage of these educational opportunities under extreme conditions. These schools are prized possessions in the rural areas. Children often walk hours each day to attend school. As shown, these schools are over-crowded, too.

Also, we have learned that education fights terrorism. I would recommend you read a book by Greg Mortenson, called Three Cups of Tea. The book tells about his difficulties in building school in Afghanistan. He has convinced our military and our State Department leadership that the education of girls promote peace.But it takes a lots of money to build schools. These schools in Congo are ill-equipped. And they are run-down and falling apart.

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Sticks, Mud, and Palm Fronds Do Not Last

Congolese schools are made out of sticks, mud, and palm fronds. Does that sound familiar? Let’s analyze the story of the three little pigs. Why did the first two pigs use straw andsticks to build? I believe they used straw and sticks because materials were cheap and available.

It takes more skills to build brick schools. Bricks are not cheap. Bricks are not always available.

But you remember what happened in the story of the three little pigs. In Congo, the big bad wolf is its weather. It rains, the wind blows, and school come tumbling down.

What’s the solution? Until now it has been lots of money.

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Vinyl Billboards Were Revolutionary

About six months ago, I was watching the evening news. One of the reports was about how the outdoor advertising industry had changed.

I did not realized they were changed from paper to vinyl billboards. I drive by thousands of billboards but I never thought about the material they were made from. I noticed that they were bigger and brighter.

The news report focused on how these vinyl billboards were now clogging up our land fills. The report showed how two ladies were making purses out of the vinyl. Purses! No offense to the ladies here BUT how many vinyl purses do we need in the world?

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Vinyl Classrooms Will Be Revolutionary

Then I remembered vinyl was the same material used in my camping tent. The top of my tent was made from vinyl. Also, I remembered my days in Germany. I remember the giant tents at the Munich Oktoberfest was made of vinyl. They were a great shelter from the rain and winds.

Finally, I thought about building a vinyl classroom. Now, I am not going to give all the credit to myself like the people do inthe Windows 7 commercials. It was not my idea. It is strange how our God talks to us.

I think he said an advertisement for Panera Bread can provide a good classroom for poor rural Congolese children. Of the course, this vinyl classroom would not be as elaborate as a real Panera Bread store or a brick classroom.

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Built Stronger, Better, and Easy

But a vinyl classroom will be a lot better than the current sticks, mud, and palm fronds classrooms. And surely, they would last longer. To help us with the project, we are engaging the Purdue University School of Engineering. We are asking them to help us with a strong and functional design for these vinyl classrooms.

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Stronger

In addition to a good design, we will use milled lumber. Lumber should produce a stronger and sounder structure. Sticks do not make a sound building. And exposed sticks deteriorate quickly when exposed to rain soaked mud.

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Better

Like my camping tent, these new vinyl classrooms will be drier. Congo has two rainy season. A vinyl classroom will provide all-round protection against the rain and winds. The big bad wolf will not blow them down.

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Easy

Once we have a good design for the vinyl classroom, we will make a practical and doable construction plan. The plan will include the required materials and the amount of lumber by size and length. We will train the local Congolese to assemble a vinyl classroom.

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Built Cheaper

Our vinyl classroom will be cheaper to build than the standard concrete and brick construction. It costs over $60,000 for six concrete and brick classrooms. Their high cost precludes the building of too many schools in the Congo. In the interim, we could more build about twenty schools for price of one concrete and brick school. Why are vinyl schools so cheap to build?

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Near Free Vinyl

We expect that the vinyl can be obtained free of charge from Outdoor Advertisers. One small local company in Indianapolis donated two full billboards and a half of billboard to us. I think the other half went to black purses. Another great advantage of the billboards is their weigh. They only weigh about 50 pounds each and can easily folded to the size of a large suitcase size.

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Nearly Free Lumber

Most of central Congo is populated with plenty of hardwood forests. The forests are controlled locally by the chiefs. Thetrees are free to the villagers.

We have purchased a portable sawmill. The sawmill will be shipped to Congo and transported out to the village. It will beowned and operated by the Bulape Hospital. They have the resources to maintain it.

We will train them how to harvest trees into near commercial grade lumber such as 1x4’s, 2x4’s, and 4x4’s.

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Cheap Labor

Congo is a poor country with high unemployment. If they can find work, most workers expect to earn about $1 to $2 a day. Therefore, labor is cheap for a fair day’s work.

Laborers are need to cut the lumber, transport the lumber, and assemble the building classrooms. The use of local villager will improve the local economy.

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Reuses Our Waste and Excess

I hope you know that we observed Earth Week last week. Everyone was aware of that, right. Did you commit yourself, or your family to help keep our earth cleaner and greener? Our Father in heaven promises green pastures and still waters. We must be good stewards of his earth. We must reuse materials along with curbing our appetite for excess.

This billboard advertises the March of Dimes walk in Indianapolis today. What is going to happen to the vinyl billboard when it is taken down within the next few days? Is itgoing into a landfill?

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Think Green

Reuse of vinyl billboards is a win-win situation for the earth. And it helps poor children in rural Congo.

This is a GREEN project. It reuses our waste and excess. We would eliminate them from our landfills. One of our donated billboards advertised the opening of Grand Victoria Casino.

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Universal Covering Material

Also, vinyl is a good universal covering material. It can be used on the roof in place of palm fronds. It can be used as walls in place of mud. Also, it can be easily cut for doors andwindows. Our other billboard advertised REMAX as your real estate specialist.

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Maintenance Free

I think you would agree that vinyl is longer lasting than mud and palm frond. Plus, it is maintenance free. It should not require periodic care. Currently, classrooms have to be repaired almost yearly.

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The Third Little Pig Is Working

To me, vinyl classrooms are a good solution for rural Congo schools. So the question is, would the third little pig build avinyl classroom? I think he would if he saw the current condition of many rural Congolese schools.

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Classrooms Are Falling Down

I have seen the condition of schools in many rural villages. They are literally falling apart. Most of the schools needed repairs. At most schools, the teachers can not keep books and material in the classroom for fear of them being damaged by water and wind.

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New Vinyl Classrooms

Vinyl classroom would be a win-win for the Outdoor Advertising Industry and for rural poor Congo school districts. It would give rural poor Congolese children a safe and dry place to learn.

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What Would The Third Little Pig Build?

In rural Congo, these vinyl classroom is a good substitute or interim solution while waiting on more concrete and brick schools. I think the third little pig would build a vinyl classroom for these poor rural Congolese children.

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Sponsor A Vinyl School

In conclusion, Purdue University is working on the design. A portable sawmill was ordered. By year’s end, we expect to start our first vinyl classroom in rural Congo.

You can be a part of this project. We need your time, talents, and treasures.

A team will be needed to install and train the hospital staff tooperate the saw mill. Also, we will need to train the workers to assemble and build the vinyl classrooms.

Would you like to build the first vinyl school in Congo? We areroughly estimating the cost at about $3,000 for a six-classroom school. Think about it! Be a part of this BUILT TO LAST vinyl school.

To our eternal and everlasting God, we give you all the glory and honor, AMEN.